May - September 2013

During this meeting organised by BusinessEurope, the following subjects were discussed:

§Tripartite Social Summit on 24 October 2013: information on theme and designation of the EEN member to be included in the BusinessEurope delegation

§Social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU): exchange of views in the context of the forthcoming Commission Communication on this issue

§Activities in the cross-industry social dialogue: declaration on the social partners’ involvement in the EU economic governance and in-depth employment analysis

§Activities in the sectoral social dialogue: exchange of views - ongoing social impact assessments

§Update on other social affairs dossiers: disclosure on the non-financial information; diversity at work; temporary agency work; restructuring; posting of workers; undeclared work; and internship programme of the Confederation of Spanish Employers (CEOE)

At the end of its first group meeting on 16 May, most participants proposed to organise a seminar before the summer, given the broad working area of the group Internal Market and potential overlaps with other ad hoc working groups.

This meeting served essentially to focus the debate within the group on some chosen issues that could be used for future policy recommendations to the Commission. After a quick debriefing of the results of the second HLG meeting on 18 June, the working group discussed the following issues:

·Professional qualifications: modernisation of the Professional Qualifications Directive and the European Professional Card - presented by Alma Basokaite (DG MARKT)

On this last point, the Rapporteur mentioned that a draft report might be available before the third meeting of the group on 17 September 2013. In this regard, members highlighted the need to prioritise the themes covered as well as to make a distinction between current and future priorities.

Finally, a meeting between the HLG Chairman, the HLG rapporteurs and the ad-hoc group rapporteurs will take place on 8 October, in order to coordinate the work of the five ad-hoc groups, and present their lists of priorities.

At the occasion of its annual congress, the EBC organised a debate between MEP Danuta Jazłowiecka, EU social partners and the European Commission on how to ensure free movement of workers and services, while avoiding the risk of social dumping. This event took place some days after the EMPL-Committee vote of adoption on 20 June 2013, of its final report concerning the enforcement of the Posting of Workers Directive.

In this context, the meeting aimedat defining the instruments and policy tools that can help to create the adequate balance in this area, at national or EU level. During the debate, small and medium sized entrepreneurs had the opportunity to put forward their needs. These include clear EU criteria for posting, mandatory declaration prior to posting, an open but transparent list of control measures with notification by Member States and much better administrative cooperation between governments.

Beyond others, the following high-level speakers presented their views: Henri Malosse (President of the European Economic and Social Committee); Kristin Schreiber (Deputy Head of Cabinet - DG MARKT); Danuta Jazlowiecka (MEP, Rapporteur on the Posting of Workers Directive’s enforcement); Armindo Silva (Director Social Legislation & Social Dialogue - DG EMPL); Jean-Pierre Waeytens (Secretary General of the Flemish Federation of Construction SMEs); and John Crombez (Secretary of State for the fight against social and fiscal fraud, Belgium).

Jointly organised by UNI Europa and the EFCI, this meeting was dedicated to the following issues:

·Report on the development of the online interactive risk assessment tool (OiRA) to tackle health & safety risks at the workplace being elaborated by social partners in collaboration with the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (OSHA)

·Daytime cleaning: Report on the joint lunchtime OIB conference on daytime cleaning in the European Commission premises of 18th June 2013

·Presentation by a representative from the French EFCI member association FEP on the communication campaign to attract young people in the cleaning industry

·EU legislative proposals and EFCI/UNI Europa lobbying activities:

→ Revision of the EU directive on public procurement: report on the trilogue negotiations between

the three main EU institutions (Commission, European Parliament and Council)

→ Proposal for an enforcement directive on the Posting of workers directive: latest developments

→ Health and safety at work: public consultation on future EU policy framework. Discussion on possible social partners’ reaction

The EEN is organised several times per year by BusinessEurope to offer a regular platform of information, discussion and exchanges of experience on issues of interest for European employers associations’ representatives. The following subjects were discussed:

§Industrial policy and employment: BusinessEurope position on industrial policy; employment and social aspects of sectoral industrial policy initiatives

§EU social dialogue – institutional aspects: last sectoral agreements; consultation of social partners

§Activities in the cross-industry social dialogue: framework of actions on youth employment; statement on social partners’ participation in economic governance; in-depth employment analysis

§Activities in the sectoral social dialogue: exchange of views - ongoing social impact assessments

The Office for Infrastructure and Logistics of the European Commission in Brussels (OIB) is gradually implementing the approach of daytime cleaning in the Commission premises. Moreover, this body has confirmed that the next framework contract for cleaning of its premises (expected for 2015) will include this concept and the required technical modalities related to it.

Given that the EFCI raised awareness and tried to influence the Commission on this issue for years, OIB proposed to the EU social partners of the cleaning industry to organise a joint lunchtime conference in order to introduce the subject to internal stakeholders, mainly in order to overcome the resistance of the "clients", i.e. the Commission officials occupying the offices in Brussels.

UNI Europa and the EFCI, DG Employment and OIB hence organised this conference to stress on the diverse advantages of daytime cleaning for both clients and cleaning personnel. To this end, representatives from UNI Europa and the EFCI presented the actions initiated within their sectoral social dialogue committee, especially their "Joint Declaration on Daytime Cleaning" of March 2007.

Then, the social partners from Belgium and Sweden presented the positive joint experiences carried out in their respective country. The Belgian social partners (ACCG, CSC and ABSU-UGBN) presented the 2012-2013 campaign called "To clean during daytime? A world of differences!” The Swedish social partners (FASTIGHETS and ALMEGA) presented their experiences with daytime cleaning. Finally, the Deputy Head of Unit in OIB, Alexandre Jacobs described to the participants how the principle of daytime cleaning would be put in practice in the Commission premises in Brussels.